Communications Professional
PUBLIC RELATIONS
Jessica Duff left the University of Tennessee in 2006 with a degree in journalism and sports management and the goal of becoming a sports reporter for ESPN. While she did start out in television as a reporter and producer, her career has since taken a different tack. After leaving TV, she worked in digital marketing before ultimately serving as communications director for a public school district. This latest post has been especially meaningful for Duff, who described her work in public education as one of the most rewarding experiences in her career.
“I attended private school my whole life until college and was sheltered from seeing some of the hardships that so many families face,” she said. “The past seven years have allowed me to open my eyes and my heart to understanding different walks of life and finding ways to connect with those families to best serve their children and set them up for success through education.”
No corner of communications is free of challenges, perhaps least of all in public school settings. Most recently, Duff has faced the task of navigating a heated political climate and its direct impact on education. The only true way through, she said, is to continue to do the work that most benefits children while underscoring the importance of serving all students, not just a select few. More broadly, one of the best parts of communications work in any arena is also one of its greatest challenges: audience reception.
“When working in communications, you have to find a way to present a story to your audience,” Duff said. “This can be challenging because your audience is never just one person, and how it’s perceived by each person is never the same. Yet it’s rewarding once that story or message is shared and received with acceptance and positivity among stakeholders.”
Duff’s expertise across TV, marketing and school public relations allows her to provide a well-rounded approach to any role and gives her a unique perspective from which to pass on what she has learned to others. Duff has shared her experiences with students for career day at Mount St. Mary Academy in Little Rock for more than a decade, and she works with communications directors from smaller school districts to provide guidance on best practices. Committed to constantly improving her skills and becoming a leading voice in her field, Duff also earned her Accreditation in Public Relations in 2024.
“This accreditation is the epitome of those in the PR field,” she said. “I’m honored to be one of two school communications professionals in the entire state of Arkansas with this accreditation and among roughly 20 percent of public relations professionals in the country with this accreditation.”
At every stage of her career, Duff has been mindful to make changes she felt would most benefit her family. Hers is a balancing act familiar to many working mothers — building a career that allows her to be present in her children’s lives while also showing them how a woman can excel in her professional pursuits no matter what. Duff said her aim for the next chapter of her career is to continue working in public service because she enjoys being able to tell the stories of others’ rise to success, whether they are students, educators or marginalized groups.
“I am incredibly passionate about what I do,” Duff said. “What you see is what you get, and I will always be true to myself while aiming to help improve quality of life for others.”
